398 WAGES. 



Prices may, therefore, at all times be considered lower than 

 the markets on the east by the expense of transport. Manures 

 are very seldom used except in the neighbourhood of large 

 towns, where the demand for vegetables and shortness of 

 carriage render it worthy of the farmer s attention. 



The money wages of labour may be stated to be nearly the 

 same from, the east to the extreme west, but any difference 

 that exists is towards a rise in the west. In the same direc 

 tion a decline in the price of produce takes place. Therefore, 

 as the distance from the markets on the coast increases, the 

 farmer pays a greater share of produce to the labourer, and 

 must be remunerated either by the low price of land or its 

 natural fertility. Labourers are of a more unsatisfactory des 

 cription than in the east, land being so cheap that every pru 

 dent man is enabled to purchase a farm for himself in the 

 course of a year or two, and it is only the imprudent who 

 continue labourers. The character of the workmen renders 

 labour dearer than is at first apparent. 



The country to the west of the Alleghanies is of such 

 extent, and gradually increasing in distance from the seaport 

 towns which regulate the price of the land produce, that farms 

 of equal quality of soil vary from 5s. 4d. to L.I 2 sterling per 

 acre. 



A person possessed of capital may purchase a farm in many 

 situations with advantage. But the exercise of prudence and 

 industry in choice of situation and management is particularly 

 called for. The price of produce is so low compared with 

 labour, that only a small portion of capital and labour can be 

 profitably applied to the cultivation of the soil. In almost 

 every instance where cultivation is followed personal assist 

 ance will be necessary to obtain profit. It has already been 

 remarked, that money wages in the west are nearly the same 

 as in the east, and as hired men are generally boarded, the 

 western employer has some advantage from the cheapness of 

 provisions. Supposing an acre of ground without an applica 

 tion of manure yields twenty bushels of wheat, which sells at 

 50 cents per bushel, and a labourer gets $120 a-year with 

 board, the value of an acre of wheat will employ a man 

 twenty-six days without including board. To the east of the 



